Germany To Invest More In Mass Surveillance

The two major agencies in Germany, the Federal Intelligence Service (BND – Bundesnachrichtendienst in German) and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV – Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz in German) are asking for more funds from the government.

If the budget plan is accepted for 2017, the BND will get a 12 percent raise (a maximum of 808 million Euros) while the BfV will receive a 18 percent increase (up to 307 million Euros) to their funds, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung’s report. With raising the budget, the BND hopes to get independent from the NSA.

A special parliamentary committee must approve the resource increase – which is classified, like all agency budgets – however, opposition already raised their concerns over the case.

The majority of the budget increase will be invested in mass surveillance, mostly decrypting “non-standardized telecommunications”, such as messaging services like WhatsApp. These kinds of online services seem to be a main concern for the BND.

“Encryption means that of the more than 70 available communication services … only less than 10 can be gathered and the content read,” the budget plan said.

According to the BND, the agency wants more funds to set up “Panos”, which is a